April 23, 2016
► Customer Feedback: Customer Faye R., from Milford, NH stated that her general shopping experience with us was Good. Sales help was rated Good. Product performance was not rated because she felt “it was too soon to adequately judge.” Would she recommend us to a friend? “Only with a warning about delivery policy.” What can do we do to improve? “I would rather delivery be handled “in house”. The person you recommended was certainly adequate, but if there had been a problem, I would prefer dealing with the store. Any future purchase will be influenced by the fact you do not deliver.”
Added by Dennis:
I have had two conversations with Faye about this. She has calmed down. But it brings up the fact that some salespeople treat Joe’s Delivery Service in a negative way. That does not only just hurt Joe, it hurts us, too. So, “We use a third party delivery service” is pretty negative. Why couldn’t you say “We have a delivery service that can do it for you”, or “We use Joe’s Delivery Service”. You could then say “Joe will arrange the pickup, make an appointment at their convenience, take everything out of the boxes, and bring the cardboard back for disposal”. Doesn’t that sound better?
► Coming up to the last week of the April sale. Everything ends Saturday, April 30th.
► Remember, May store hours start Monday, May 2nd. We close at 9PM weekdays.
► Events during the next couple of weeks:
April 27: Pool School 202 ~ Easy Pool Opening, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
April 30: April Pre-Seasonal Pool Supply Sale ends at 5:00 PM. Hurry, don’t miss out.
May 1: Extended store hours start: Mon – Fri 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM, Sat 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Sun 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
May 1: Mark’s Birthday: FREE birthday cake in the coffee shop while supplies last.
May 4: Pool School 101 ~ Introduction to Pool Maintenance, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
► Remember to check on Pool School nights if you have to park in the back parking lot. The directions will be on the Pool School white board Monday morning. And remember, if we are parking there, you will have to move your car there, because you CAN NOT PARK THERE before 6PM. Or you will block trucks. Or get totalled by a truck.
► Please read your coupons. They are available to read before you start working, in the coupon envelope.
► I have had several reports from employees about not receiving the April Seasonal News at home. It now seems like a problem. If you normally receive the newsletter at home, and you did not receive one last week, I really need to know. Please give me your name and address. Why is this important? You represent about .0001% of all the people that we want to mail to. But I don’t have any way to ask the people who I meant to mail to, if they got the mail. So I only have you. And we will work out a policy for people who want the discount in May; saying that we never mailed to them.
► Congratulations to Rose, who won the tickets to the Fisher Cats game and reception; and also to Anne-Marie, who won the tickets to the Comedy Show earlier this month.
► Coming to a Seasonal Specialty Store near you! A $100 professional-quality vacuum pole. It’s really heavy, it locks in place, we don’t even make much money at $99.99, but let’s see if people like it.
► From Ann A.:
To All Sales Associates:
I have recently received several complaints from customers regarding the lead time for Trica special order bar stools. We should be quoting a lead time to customers of 4 weeks. Trica production time is 15 working days. That does not including weekend days!! Also, please remember that Trica ships from Canada and it can take 3-5 days for us to receive product bases solely on how long it takes the shipment to clear Canadian customs. So moving forward, lead time is to be quoted at 4 weeks. If you have any questions please see me!
► From Anne-Marie: It looks like Patrick was right, and after waiting since early October, now Cayan is planning to push the “chip ability” for our credit card scanners out during our busiest time of year! I confirmed with them this morning that the update will take place at 7 a.m. on Monday the 25th. The cashiers will be able to tell if it has taken place by a blue light emitting from the slot where the chip card should be inserted on the credit card swipe machines. I’ve given the managers information on the proper processing of chip cards. If you have any questions, please let me know.
► That’s Outrageous! from the Reader’s Digest:
“We’re happy to report that Daniel will be getting the new photo he requested.” An Australian on the lam for drug and traffic offenses reacted to his mug shot the police posted on Facebook by responding, “Can you use a better photo? This is a horrible mug shot.” The cops granted Daniel his wish, planting him in front of a police photographer soon after he was arrested.